This case summary is part of a collection of summaries describing the cases before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). See the Online Resource Hub pages on the ICTR and International Criminal Law, and table of ICTR case summaries for additional information.
Trial Judgment: 16 May 2003; Appeal Judgment: 9 July 2004
Eliézer Niyitegeka, the former Minister of Information in Rwanda, stood trial for his involvement in planning, leading, and participating in massacres of Tutsis in Bisesero, Kibuye Prefecture between April and July 1994. The prosecution charged Niyitegeka with direct and superior responsibility for genocide; conspiracy to commit genocide; complicity in genocide; incitement to genocide; crimes against humanity for acts of murder, extermination, rape, and other inhumane acts; and war crimes for acts of violence to life.
In 2003, an ICTR Trial Chamber convicted Niyitegeka of genocide; conspiracy to commit genocide; direct and public incitement to commit genocide; and crimes against humanity for acts of murder, extermination, and other inhumane acts for Niyitegeka’s involvement in the massacres in Bisesero. In 2004, the ICTR Appeals Chamber rejected Niyitegeka’s appeal in its entirety, and affirmed the Trial Chamber’s life sentence.